EU trade data for all 50 U.S. states

All U.S. states have deep trade ties to the EU, yet some stand out regarding their exporting relationship to EU member states. The U.S. Census Bureau provides state-by-state data on exports to various markets, so I used these statistics to visualize the annual average of state exports to the EU for the years 2011 to 2016 (corresponding to the time frame under consideration in my study).

Europe is a key trading partner for all states: On average, almost one fifth of a U.S. states’ exports go to the European Union. Furthermore, all states but Hawaii and Oregon have at least one EU member state in their top ten export destinations and only 15 states do not have at least one EU member state in their top five export destinations.

About this blogThis blog offers sections from my study to highlight some of the questions, topics and findings. I've edited the posts for the web, especially some of the references and footnotes, but all sources can be accessed in the full study.

Strong trade with the EU across all U.S. states

With the importance of exports for all U.S. states, what variety is there throughout the nation, though? The following maps highlight both the overall strength of the transatlantic trade relation but also shows pockets with especially high exporting numbers.

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Texas exports to the EU (rank 1/50)

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Hawaii exports to the EU (rank 50/50)

About the pictures on this siteThrough a one-year scholarship, I was fortunate enough to be a visiting researcher at Columbia University in the City of New York. While on campus, I took lots of pictures of the surroundings, some of which I decided to display on this site.

The maps overall show the variety of economic strength and focal points among the states but also that all states are economically engaged with Europe. The data clearly confirms the exporting might of large populous states, such as California, Texas and Washington.

However, just like for the investment statistics, the discrepancy between absolute and relative numbers needs to be taken into account because the aforementioned economic powerhouses are not always intimately linked to the EU: Texas has the largest amount of exports to the EU, but since it exports even more to Mexico, Canada and China, the transatlantic connection is relatively more important in many other states.

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Strong EU exporting states on the East coast

The maps clearly show the dominance of the Mid-Atlantic region in terms of EU exports. Geographical proximity to the European continent might be a reason for that, similar to how West coast states are reaching out more to Asian markets. Utah is an interesting outlier, which is discussed in my study: The state places a strong focus on international economic development and its executive leadership has built corresponding institutions and cultivated business links to support its international strategy. For example, it is also one of the few Western states with a trade office in the EU. To be sure, almost all states have global trade strategies in place and, once again, almost all states have deep trade ties to the EU.